:■ ' : h IIS 



aam 



tfjssL v^v »•$» y,6<. 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

©|apP-°^ri#lo 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



TO TOtJNG MEN. 



THREE 

STEPS 

IN LIFE 



,- 



MORGAN E. DOWLING 

Author of « Southern Prisoner Josie, the Heroine of 
Florence," and" Reason and Ingersollism." 



DETROIT : 

Wm. Graham Printing Co. 

1892. 






UUX -l sfclv 



/LffSA 






<* 

% 



^^^ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, by 

MORGAN n. DOWNING, 
In the Office of the librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



^ 

^ 

*> 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Introduction, 7 

A Permanent Residence, . . . .19 
A Permanent Vocation, .... 35 

Selection of a Wife, 70 

A Few Suggestions, 85 



The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man 
the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it in turn 
will look sourly upon you ; laugh at it and with it, and it is 
a jolly, kind companion.— Thackeray. 



Nine times out of ten, the best thing- that can happen to 
a young" man is to be tossed overboard and compelled to 
sink or swim for himself. In all my acquaintance I never 
knew a man to be drowned who was worth the saving-. — 
James A. Garfield. 



There is a tide in the affairs of men, 

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. 

— Shakespeare. 



It is of unspeakable advantage to possess our minds with 
in habitual good intention, and to aim all our thoughts, 
words and actions at some laudable end. — Addison. 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

tions that inevitably arise in his 
mind are somewhat as follows: How 
shall I begin life? Where shall I 
settle down? What shall I do to 
earn a living? What course shall I 
pursue to attain success? How can 
I make life a joy and a blessing? 
These are grave questions. And yet 
they must be solved by every young 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

man at the very inception of his 
career. The man who blindly trusts 
to luck, or the caprice of fortune, 
is visionary and short-sighted. Life 
is not a dream, it is a stern reality — 
an unceasing struggle for a mere 
existence. No man can expect to 
succeed in life who lives in idleness. 
No man can hope to win distinction 



10 INTR OD UCTION. 

and honor unless he toils. Every 
man must fight the battle of life 
with his own blade, and hew his 
own way to victory. Courage, en- 
ergy, and perseverance, are the 
qualities that make the man. Hon- 
esty, integrity, and industry, are the 
virtues that lead to success and pros- 
perity. u Every man is the architect 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

of his own fortune." And every 
man is just what he makes himself — 
nothing more, nothing less. 

The majority of young men start 
out in life with a very limited 
knowledge of the world, and some- 
times without either advice or 
friends to guide them. Hence it 
is that so many of them fail to ac- 



12 INTRODUCTION. 

complish anything. Of course, I 
fully realize that circumstances are 
often against a man. But we must 
learn, like the great Napoleon, not 
only to conquer adverse circumstan- 
ces, but to create new circumstances, 
and utilize them to our advantage. 
To be sure, it is easier to give ad- 
vice than to follow it. But we must 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

remember that where there is a ivill 
there is a way, and sensible men 
always find a way to follow good 
advice. 

But it is not my purpose to give 
advice. I merely desire to call the 
attention of young men to an indis- 
putable fact. There are three steps 
which almost every young man takes 



14 INTRODUCTION, 

in life, the importance of which is 
seldom appreciated, and but rarely 
understood. And yet these three 
steps invariably decide, either di- 
rectly or indirectly, his whole future 
career. They may lead to success, 
happiness, honor, fortune and fame; 
they may lead to failure, poverty, 
misery, shame and obscurity. They 



INTRODUCTION. 15 

sometimes strew man's pathway in 
life with flowers — sometimes with 
thorns. They are always a prolific 
source of either good or evil, and 
they bring to every man either joy 
or tears. They are the three great 
steps in life from which all the 
others radiate, and around which all 
the others cluster in graceful subor- 



16 INTRODUCTION. 

dination. If judiciously taken, they 
are the stepping stones to success, 
prosperity and happiness, and often 
crown man's efforts with the highest 
achievements. If improperly taken, 
they usually terminate in failure, 
poverty and disgrace — make life a 
burden — and submerge man in a 
"sea of troubles." 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

These three steps in life are: 

1. The selection of a permanent 
residence. 

2. The selection of a permanent 
vocation. 

3. The selection of a wife. 

Let us briefly consider these three 
steps, in the order in which they 
are enumerated, and then close 



18 INTRODUCTION. 

the subject with "A Pew Sugges- 
tions" based upon observation and 



experience. 



^p^.^^^^^^.@^ag^ 



A PERMANENT RESIDENCE 

To the, unthinking, the selection 
of a permanent place of residence is 
a matter of but little consequence; 
to the thoughtful, it is one of the 
most serious steps in life. It is a 
well settled maxim that "A rolling 



20 THREE STEPS 

stone gathers no moss." The tree 
must be planted and take root before 
it can grow and bear fruit. Hence 
the necessity of locating in some 
suitable place, with the intention of 
making it a permanent home. The 
difficulty with most men is to deter- 
mine upon the place. This involves 
many grave and perplexing ques- 



IN LIFE. 21 

tions. While a man might for laud- 
able reasons prefer to settle in a par- 
ticular place, his constitution, health, 
vocation or ambitious aims may re- 
quire that he fix his abode in another. 
If he is wise he will naturally select 
the climate most conducive to good 
health, for, after all, good health is 
paramount to all other considerations, 



22 THREE STEPS 

because it affords us the most pleas- 
ure and happiness. A man may be 
prosperous, and yet if his health is 
poor and he is miserable and un- 
happy, what does his prosperity 
amount to? Good health is man's 
greatest inheritance. It is absolutely 
essential to true happiness. It is far 
more valuable than the most precious 



IN LIFE, 23 

• 

jewels. It is a luxury that surpasses 
all other luxuries. It is the vital 
principle of happiness, and happiness 
is the only thing of real value in 
existence. Neither riches, nor pow- 
er, nor wisdom, nor learning, nor 
strength, nor beauty, nor even life 
itself, being of any importance, ex- 
cept as they contribute to its pro- 



24 THREE STEPS 

duction. All these are in themselves 
neither good nor evil; happiness 
alone is their great end, and they 
are desirable only as they tend to 
promote it. 

Of course, in selecting a locality 
in which to settle down, the social 
status of the people, the degree of 
intelligence and civilization which 



IN LIFE. 25 

they enjoy, the size and business 
advantages of the place, and the 
nature of the soil and its products, 
are exceedingly important and should 
be considered with serious delibera- 
tion. Nature has adapted some men 
for large cities, some for small ones; 
others are entirely out of place ex- 
cept on a farm, for the reason that 



26 THREE STEPS 

they are not adapted to city life at 
all. And there are still others who 
can make life congenial and happy 
anywhere, under any circumstances. 
Many a man's life has proved the 
most lamentable failure, simply be- 
cause he located in a large city 
where he was entirely out of his 
sphere; when his education, capacity, 



IN LIFE. 27 

ability and natural tastes and accom- 
plishments would have made him a 
brilliant success in a small town or 
village. On the other hand, many a 
man has utterly failed because he 
insisted upon locating in a small 
town, when if he had settled down 
in some large metropolis he would 
have proved a grand success, and in 



28 THREE STEPS 

many instances would probably have 
won a national reputation in his pro- 
fession, or acquired a handsome com- 
petency in his business. It has often 
seemed strange to me that so many 
men will insist upon remaining where 
they are as much out of their sphere 
as a fish is out of water — doomed to 
spend their lives in poverty and 



IN LIFE, 29 

obscurity — when if they would only 
seek a more suitable and congenial 
clime they might lift themselves into 
a position of wealth and prominence. 
Of course, every man must be his 
own judge in deciding the question 
as to where he will live. He must 
measure his own capacity and pecul- 
iar fitness for a large or small place. 



30 THREE STEPS 

He must determine whether he will 
cast his lot upon the farm, settle 
down in some rural town, or battle 
with life in some large metropolis. 
And when this is done, when he has 
once decided on a place of residence, 
he should by all means make it per- 
manent. The man who settles down 
in some particular place, and makes 



IN LIFE. 31 

it his home, soon becomes known. 
He not only makes friends and ac- 
quaintances, and gains a social posi- 
tion of influence, but if he leads an 
honorable, upright life, he is not long 
in winning the confidence and esteem 
of his fellow-men, and soon establishes 
a good business, a fair credit, and 
always feels as though he was at 



32 THREE STEPS 

home. In the hour of trouble or 
misfortune he finds himself sur- 
rounded by warm friends, whose 
tender sympathy and kind assistance 
are to him what the ramparts are to 
the citadel. The rambler, on the 
other hand, is a foreigner among 
men, and generally speaking, has 
nothing, accumulates nothing, is noth- 



IN LIFE, 33 

ing. He is without credit, without 
friends, without social position, with- 
out business standing, and without 
business influence. And when trouble 
or misfortune frowns upon him he 
finds himself a wanderer among 
strangers in a strange land, with no 
one to tender him sympathy, with 
no one to extend a helping hand or 



34 THREE STEPS 

a consoling word; but like the ship 
without rudder or compass tossed 
upon the waves amidst storm and 
tempest, he discovers that all the sur- 
rounding elements are warring against 
him and seeking his destruction. 




IN LIFE. 35 






A PERMANENT VOCATION 

Balzac has said, U A vocation is 
born to us all." A man without a 
vocation is a good deal like a kite 
without a tail, he never can ex- 
pect to rise very high in the 



36 THREE STEPS 

world. Generally speaking he is 
always an object of either pity or 
contempt, and seldom, if ever, pos- 
sesses a single noble quality or a 
meritorious virtue. A man without 
a vocation is nobody. He may suc- 
ceed in eking out a semi-honor- 
able existence, but he is far more 
likely to die a pauper in disgrace. 



IN LIFE. 37 

Hence the necessity of selecting a 
vocation. No man can ever expect 
to amount to much in this world 
who works at one thing today and 
another tomorrow; who knows a 
little about everything, and is thor- 
oughly competent in nothing; who 
wastes his talents in many things, 
and fails in all. Such a man is 



38 THREE STEPS 

"jack of all trades and master of 
none." He is utterly incompetent in 
almost everything that he under- 
takes, and his life usually proves the 
most miserable kind of a failure. 
Thomas Fuller once said, in speak- 
ing of Ben Jonson, who was a 
bricklayer, "Let them blush not that 
have, but those who have not a 



IN LIFE. 39 

lawful calling." The first thing that 
every young man should do, as soon 
as he has had the necessary expe- 
rience and feels himself competent, 
is to select a vocation. And to in- 
sure success, this should be done as 
early in life as possible. Let every 
young man choose a vocation from 
among all the different kinds of 



40 THREE STEPS 

trades and professions; let him know 
that he likes it, let him feel that he 
is adapted for it, and then let him 
a^dopt it with the express determina- 
tion to follow it for life, and if pos- 
sible to excel in it. I say this 
because I believe that whatever any 
man undertakes to do, he should do 
it with all his might. He should 



IN LIFE. 41 

have but one vocation, and every 
effort should be exerted to make it 
a source of profit and honor. The 
history of almost every man of solid- 
ity, who has attained prominence and 
permanent success in his calling, will- 
indicate that he has spent the best 
years of his life in the persistent and 
constant pursuit of a single object — 



42 THREE STEPS 

that he marshalled all his forces to 
bear upon one point, and built on 
one foundation. It must be so. Go 
out in the morning, when the sun is 
just rising, and you can scarcely feel 
the influence of its beams, scattered 
as they are over the face of creation; 
but collect those beams to a focus, 
and they kindle a flame in an instant. 



IN LIFE. 43 

And so it is with the man who 
wastes his talents and his strength in 
many things, he will fail to make an 
impression on any ; but let him draw 
them to a point, let him strike at a 
single object, and it will yield before 



him. And right here let us not for- 



get that although every kind of 
rightful labor is honorable, yet that 



44 THREE STEPS 

only will reflect honor on the indi- 
vidual for which he is fitted. Car- 
lyle has tersely remarked, that "Of 
all paths a man could strike into, 
there is, at any given moment, a 
best path for every man — a thing 
which, here and now, it were of all 
things wisest for him to do; which 
could he but be led or driven to 



IN LIFE. 45 

do, he were then doing like a man, 
as we phrase it. His success, in 
such a case, were complete, his felic- 
ity a maximum." It would be well, 
too, for every young man to remem- 
ber, that humble birth and a want 
of proper training and education in 
early life forms no barrier to success. 
Most of the greatest artists, poets, 



46 THREE STEPS 

orators, dramatists, statesmen, sol- 
diers, authoi s, philosophers, theolo- 
gians and thinkers, that the world 
has ever produced, were of humble 
origin and received but little educa- 
tion, and had very few advantages 
in the days of their boyhood. And 
nearly all of the great men of the 
past, who won distinction and re- 



IN LIFK 47 

nown, followed in early life the 
ordinary pursuits of farmers, butchers, 
teamsters, tailors, mechanics, shop- 
keepers, drovers, school teachers, 
clerks, and various other vocations. 
Very few of the fathers of our 
Republic were the inheritors of 
wealth and distinction. Washington 
was almost the only gentleman by 



48 THREE STEPS 

right of birth in all that company 
of thinkers. Franklin was a printer's 
boy; Sherman a shoemaker; Knox 
a bookbinder; Green a blacksmith; 
John Adams and Marshall were the 
sons of farmers; and Hamilton, the 
most subtle, fiery and electrical, but 
at the same time the most composed 
and orderly genius of all, was in 



IN LIFE, 49 

early life a clerk or a shopkeeper. 
And if we come down to a later 
period, Daniel Webster was the son 
of a farmer, John C. Calhoun was 
the son of a tanner and currier; the 
father of Henry Clay belonged to 
the poorer class of Baptist ministers; 
Martin Van Buren, during his leisure 
in the day, gathered pine knots to 



50 THREE STEPS 

light his evening studies; Thomas 
Corwin was a wagoner; and Silas 
Wright, by heritage a machinist. 
In later times we have had Lincoln 
of the flat-boat; Johnson, the tailor; 
Grant, the tanner; Wilson, the shoe- 
maker's apprentice; Garfield, the 
canal boy; and many others among 
our statesmen who received the ap- 






IN LIFE. 51 



plause and reverence of mankind 
passed their earlier years at what, in 
other countries, would be almost 
impassable distances from the emi- 
nence which they subsequently 
achieved. Most of the millionaires of 
today were born in obscurity and pov- 
erty. The fact is, genius is neither 
the child of accident, nor mistake, 



52 THREE STEPS 

nor training, nor education, nor pov- 
erty, nor wealth, nor fortune, nor roy- 
alty, it is the gift of nature. u No man 
is nobler than another," says Ballou, 
44 unless he is born with better abili- 
ties, a more amiable disposition, and 
a larger heart and brain. The field 
is open to all; for it is fixedness of 
purpose and perseverance that win 



IN LIFE. 53 

the prizes of this world, qualities that 
can be exercised by the most hum- 
ble." But it must not be forgotten 
that u God helps those who help 
themselves/' Energy, industry, and 
economy, supported by an invincible 
determination and a right motive, 
are the secrets of success and 
prosperity. 



54 THREE STEPS 

There is scarcely anything more 
gratifying to the mind than the well- 
written life of a person whose intel- 
lectual struggles through every diffi- 
culty, arising from want of books, 
want of examples, want of patronage, 
and who, notwithstanding these im- 
pediments, continues to struggle 
until he triumphantly emerges into 



IN LIFE. 55 

notice. Art surrenders some of her 
choicest secrets, science smiles, and 
fame places the successful experi- 
menter far above common names. 
Many are the persons thus claiming 
their well-deserved honors — persons 
who have been the boast and bless- 
ing of their day, by means of un- 
subdued patience, fortitude, and 



56 THREE STEPS 

vivacious genius. Every department 
of art and science is filled with 
them. Their stimulating examples 
are on every hand. From the low- 
est rank of life they start forth. 
They break all the shackles of igno- 
rance. The repulsive frowns of the 
crowd cannot daunt them. The 
fears of the timorous they disregard. 



IN LIFE. 57 

Determined to excel, they do excel. 
Their native energies urge them 
forward in their honorable career, 
until success crowns their efforts. 

Young man, strengthen your moral 
and intellectual faculties as you 
would strengthen your muscles by 
vigorous exercise. Learn to conquer 
circumstances; you are then inde- 



58 THREE STEPS 

pendent of fortune. The men of 
athletic minds, who have left their 
marks on the years in which they 
lived, were all trained in a rough 
school. They did not mount their 
high positions by the help of lever- 
age. They leaped into chasms, grap- 
pled with the opposing rocks, 
avoided avalanches, and overcame 



IN LIFE. 59 

every obstacle that appeared in their 
way until the goal was reached. 
Rely on your own strength of 
body and soul. Take for your motto, 
self-reliance, honesty, industry, per- 
severance and pluck; and inscribe on 
your banner, u be just and fear not." 
Don't take too much advice; keep 
at the helm and steer your own 



60 THREE S1EPS 

ship. Strike right out. Think well 
of yourself. Aim high. Assume 
your position. And don't practice 
excessive humility. If you do not 
have a fixed purpose in life — some- 
thing to live for, something upon 
which you can lavish all your ener- 
gies, and bring into action every 
capability of the mind and human 



IN LIFE. 61 

reason — you never can expect to be 
successful. You must aspire to be 
something, or you will always be 
nothing. 

Be polite and generous and socia- 
ble. Shun dissipation, it leads to 
ruin and crime and premature death. 
Be careful of the company you keep. 
Learn to be patient. Don't expect 



62 THREE STEPS 

to accomplish wonders in a moment. 
Never despair; your days cannot 
always be clouded and fruitless. If 
you do not succeed at once, don't 
be discouraged. Remember, that a In 
the bright lexicon of youth there is 
no such word as fail.' 7 Learn to 
appreciate the value of time, and 
never be idle a minute. Read good 



IN LIFE, 63 

books; cultivate the mind and heart 
at every opportunity. Be steady and 
form good habits. Have a mind of 
your own - and use it. Let your 
amusements be few and rational. 
Travel all you can, and learn to be 
observing. Keep thoroughly informed 
upon all the topics of the day. 
Attend to business closely. Work 



64 THREE STEPS 

hard and, if necessary, late. Learn 
to save what you make, and make 
something from what you save. You 
are then on the road to prosperity. 
Observe these things, and as a general 
rule you will succeed, and eventually 
become your own master. Take for 
instance, the merchants of our city, 
the lawyer, the doctor, the mechanic, 



IN LIFE. 65 

the artist; any of them who are 
doing business for themselves, or 
stand at the head of their profession 
today. Examine their histories, and 
learn a lesson and remember it. 
Here is a dry goods merchant; years 
ago he was a poor clerk; he worked 
hard and late; he took an interest 
in his employer's business, and, as a 



66 THREE STEPS 

consequence, his employer took an 
interest in him. He was sober, 
honest, and industrious; little by 
little he advanced himself. After a 
while he was given an interest in 
the concern, and finally became its 
sole proprietor. Take the wealthy 
mechanics of today. How did they 
get up in the world? By honest 



IN LIFE. 67 

toil. They served their time as 
apprentices, and for long weary- 
years they worked in the shop, over 
fire and smoke, and by industry, 
economy and ability, were finally 
enabled to start for themselves, and 
have thus amassed the wealth they 
now possess. The successful profes- 
sional man lived in his library, and 



68 THREE STEPS 

while others were sleeping, he toiled 
with his brain over books and docu- 
ments. And so it is with every man 
in business, no matter what that 
business may be; if he attains to 
anything, if he would rise above 
the common level of men, he must 
do it through his own exertions; he 
must work, save what he makes, be 



IN LIFE. 69 

wise in his expenditures, have a 

chosen vocation, and pursue it 
through life. 



70 THREE STEPS 






SELECTION OF A WIFE 
Gcethe has pertinently remarked, 
that " Marriage is the beginning and 
summit of all civilization." And 
Houssaye earnestly maintains, that 
"Every man who is not coupled 
with a woman is not a man," The 



IN LIFE. 71 

majority of our old bachelors would 
undoubtedly marry if they had their 
lives to live over again. Married 
life, after all, is the only life worth 
living. To be sure, it has its cares 
and responsibilities, its advantages 
and its disadvantages, its bright side 
and its dark side, its joys and its 
sorrows. But is not this true of 



72 THREE STEPS 

every phase of human life? And 
where is the man who has been hap- 
pily married, who would willingly 
give up the woman of his choice — 
the idol of his heart — to go back to 
a life of single blessedness? 

Man is naturally a social being 
and needs a mate. Nature never 
designed that he should live alone 



IN LIFE. 73 

The only right way for him to live, 
if he would be happy, is to take a 
wife. A good wife is the imperial 
jewel of man's soul. Sir Sidney has 
indicated the care that should be 
used in taking this step in the fol- 
lowing appropriate sentence: u When 
it shall please God to bring thee to 
man's estate, use great providence 



74 THREE STEPS 

and circumspection in choosing thy 
wife; for from thence will spring all 
thy future good or evil, and it is an 
action of life like unto a stratagem 
of war, wherein a man can err but 
once." Married life improves a 
man's habits and morals — ennobles 
and develops all that is good in 
him, inspires him with confidence, 



IN LIFE, 75 

develops and shapes his character, 
incites him to heroic deeds and 
charitable acts, teaches him economy, 
quickens his imagination, enlarges 
his ambition, broadens his ideas, and 
gives greater stability to his conduct. 
Married life makes a man more of a 
man in every sense. After a man is 
married he settles down to all the 



76 THREE STEPS 

stern realities of life. He will give 
closer attention to business, work 
harder and accomplish more, lift 
himself up to a higher plane and 
achieve greater success in all the 
aims and objects of his life. 

To live a bachelor's life is a great 
mistake — a mistake that is always 
discovered, but too late in life to 



IN LIFE. 77 

remedy the evils and repair the 
wastes which it produces. 

Addison has said, that U A happy 
marriage has in it all the pleasures 
of friendship, all the enjoyments of 
sense and reason, and indeed, all the 
sweets of life." He might have 
added, that it also affords a man 
the opportunity of establishing a 



78 THREE STEPS 

home, wherein he can cultivate his 
tastes, and give full expression 

to the heart's emotions and best 
affections. 

Dr. Johnson once said, that u To 

be happy at home is the ultimate 

result of all ambition, the end to 

which every enterprise and labor 

tends, and of which every desire 



IN LIFE. 79 

prompts the prosecution. 1 ' Home is 
the rallying place of the affections, 
the abode of sympathy and love. 
Home makes the man, and woman 
makes the home. 

It is not my intention to tell any 
young man where he should select 
his residence, what sort of a voca- 
tion he should choose, nor whom he 



80 THREE STEPS 

should select for his wife. These 
matters he must determine for him- 
self. My object is simply to point 
out the great importance in taking 
these steps, and the necessity of 
knowing that we are right when we 
take them. Eight-tenths of all the 
men who become careless and ex- 
travagant, who become drunkards, 



IN LIFE. 81 

who fail in business, who become 
mental, moral, physical and financial 
wrecks, can trace directly or indi- 
rectly the cause of all their troubles 
and misfortunes to a mistake in tak- 
ing one or more of these steps. 
They certainly lead to more trouble 
and strife and misery, and have more 
to do with shaping our future than 



82 THREE STEPS 

all the other steps we take in life. 
It will be obvious, therefore, that 
they should not be taken without 
due caution, consideration and 
thought. On the other hand, the 
eminently successful and happy 
man — the man who is known and 
respected in the community where he 
resides, the man who excels in his 



IN LIFE. 83 

vocation, the man who has a good 
wife and a cheerful, happy home, 
the man whose days sparkle with 
joys as bright as the night's twink- 
ling stars, and who dwells amidst 
smiles, and laughter, and music, and 
the sweet perfume of flowers — will 
tell you that his prosperity and hap- 



84 THREE STEPS 

piness are the natural results of these 
three steps, wisely taken. 




IN LIFE. 85 








A FEW SUGGESTIONS 

In conclusion, I would suggest 
that there are a few things it would 
be well for every young man to 
remember if he desires to succeed: 



86 THREE STEPS 

Never associate business with 
friendship. 

Always think before you act; be 
sure you are right, and then go 
ahead. 

Be liberal and fair and upright in 
all your dealings with your fellow- 
men. 

Whatever you agree to do, do it 



IN LIFE. 87 

like a man. Your word should in- 
variably be as good as your bond. 

The golden rule — do unto others 
as you would have others do unto 
you — is a good precept to follow, 
and should be strictly adhered to 
in all the affairs of life. 

Always stand up manfully for what- 
ever is right and just, on all occa- 



88 THREE STEPS 

sions and under all circumstances, 
from first to last. 

Defend at all hazards your integ- 
rity and honor. These are your 
capital, and the moment you lose 
them you become a bankrupt. 

The best of men sometimes make 
great mistakes. We all have a good 
deal to learn from experience. It is 






IN LIFE. 89 

advisable, therefore, to be patient 
and considerate with the erring and 
unfortunate. 

Never act impulsively, or while in 
a state of excitement or anger, but 
let all your actions be marked by 
calmness, thought and deliberation. 
You will then make but few mistakes. 

It is sometimes both convenient 



90 THREE STEPS 

and practical to combine business 
with pleasure, but the safe rule to 
follow is business first and pleasure 
afterwards. 

Never defer until tomorrow what 
duty imperatively demands you 
should do today. Whatever you 
have to do, do it at the earliest 



IN LIFE. 91 

possible moment. Promptness is a 
virtue of great merit. 

The man who has a trade or busi- 
ness, and understands it thoroughly, 
can always find employment. It is 
the make-shift, who has no regular 
vocation, who looks for work in vain. 

A man is always estimated by his 
habits and the company he keeps, 



92 THREE STEPS 

and dissolute habits and bad asso- 
ciates will ruin any man — socially, 
morally, and financially. 

There are a great many men who 
are uniformly unfortunate in all their 
business enterprises, and everything 
they undertake to do usually proves 
a deplorable failure. Not because 
they are wanting in ability, or ca- 



IN LIFE. 93 

pacity, or industry, or integrity; but, 
for some inexplicable reason, fate 
seems to be against them. If you 
would avoid ill-luck, and perhaps 
financial ruin, never have any busi- 
ness relations with such men, and 
never embark in any kind of enter- 
prise with them. All their business 
ventures lead to disaster and end in 



94 THREE STEPS 

smoke. If you desire to achieve suc- 
cess in your business projects, asso- 
ciate yourself with a man who is 
invariably fortunate and eminently 
successful in all his business affairs. 

The man who never goes to 
church; never tries to improve his 
mind; lounges around in the saloons; 
spends his time in idleness; keeps 



IN LIFE. 95 

late hours; gets intoxicated, and 
allows his appetites and passions to 
run riot, never accomplishes any- 
thing in life, and usually ends his 
days in sadness and disgrace. No 
one will employ such a man except 
by accident or mistake, and then 
he will not keep him long. 

Be kind and gentle to all, espe- 



96 THREE STEPS 

cially to those who are discouraged 
and low spirited. Sometimes a harsh 
word carelessly uttered will drive a 
man to despair and ruin, when a 
kind word might raise his hopes to 
a point that would lead to happi- 
ness and prosperity. 

If you wish to inspire your em- 
ployer with confidence, you must be 



IN LIFE. 97 

prompt, and accurate, and truthful, and 
industrious, and sober, and honest. 

No one will keep a young man 
in his service for any great length 
of time who is unreliable, and lazy, 
and stupid, and fails to take an 
interest in his employer's business. 

A man of noble qualities, and a 
tender heart, will never give up to 



98 THREE STEPS 

melancholy or discontent. He will 
always look upon the bright side of 
life, and be pleasant and hopeful, 
even in the darkest hour. 

A good many young men fail to 
get along in life as well as they 
might, simply because they have 
imbibed the habit of occasionally 



deviating from the truth. This is 



IN LIFE. 99 

unfortunate. No one has implicit 
confidence in a man who is untruth- 
ful. Every man, capable of discern- 
ing truth from falsehood, should 
always cherish the truth. The habit 
of equivocating is a very mischievous 
one, and every young man addicted 
to the practice will eventually realize 
this from experience. A man of in- 



100 THREE STEPS 

tegrity and veracity may tolerate the 
occasional quibbler, but lie invariably 
evades and sincerely despises the 
man who deliberately and habitually 
prevaricates. Truthfulness is a mer- 
itorious quality. 

A great many people entertain 
the idea that if a young man is to 
ever attain eminence he must reside 



IN LIFE. 101 

in a large city. This ' is a popular 
error. Many of our most prosperous 
and prominent men sojourn in the 
small towns or cities, and multitudes 
of our young men have left their 
homes in the large cities and settled 
in small towns and made their mark 
there. Metropolitan life is a hard 
and precarious life. It resembles an 



102 THREE STEPS 

immense school in which there is 
taught a multiplicity of lessons on a 
great variety of subjects. It devel- 
ops all there is in a man either for 
good or evil in a very short time. 
Ten years of metropolitan life will 
enable a man to see more and learn 
more concerning human affairs than 
the experience of a lifetime would 



IN LIFE. 103 

in a small town. But, whether or 
not what he sees and what he learns 

is always to his advantage is very- 
questionable. We know that the 
knowledge thus acquired often leads 
to a course of immorality which pre- 
cipitates his destruction and blights 
his hopes and wrecks his life for- 
ever. The opportunities afforded by 



104 THREE STEPS 

a large city to improve our condi- 
tion and accomplish our aims are 
exceedingly numerous, but they are 
almost as abundant in the small 
towns and cities in proportion to 
the population, though not so vari- 
ous. And in a large city so many 
eager competitors enter the race for 
power and prominence and wealth, 



IN LIFE. 105 

that the chances of success in a 
small town are equally as good, if 
not better, than they are in a large 
city. Besides, the friction of life — 
and competition in all the arts and 
trades and professions — is much 
fiercer in the large cities than it is 
in the small towns. Man's career in 
a large city is a constant struggle 



i 



106 THREE STEPS 

for the bare necessaries of life, and 
his income is seldom adequate to 
his wants. In the small towns and 
cities he can live cheaper, the tempt- 
ations to do wrong are fewer, the 
atmosphere is more healthful, the 
environments more beautiful, and he 
is surrounded by less poverty and 
misery and crime. These are matters 



IN LIFE. 107 

and things that should be carefully 
weighed and considered by every 
young man before he decides where 
he will locate permanently. There 
is much wisdom in the old proverb 
that a man might better be a big 
man in a small town than a small 
man in a big city. 

By all means avoid the use of 



108 THREE STEPS 

obscene or profane language. If 
young men who are in the habit 
of swearing could only realize how 
much they degrade themselves in 
the estimation of their friends, they 
would discard the practice immedi- 
ately. The habit of swearing is not 
only disgusting and demoralizing, 
but it indicates a want of culture 



IN LIFE. 109 

and true manliness. No man who 
has a proper respect for himself or 
the feelings of others will indulge 
in the habit, unless he is utterly lost 
to all sense of decency and pro- 
priety. 

Own your home. You are then 
independent of landlords. For some 
reason or other a man's home always 



110 THREE STEPS 

seems more charming and attractive 
if lie owns it. If you own your 
home your neighbors will treat you 
with greater deference than they 
would if you merely rented it. Your 
employer will have greater confi- 
dence in you. If you are engaged 
in business for yourself it will add 
stability to your financial standing 



IN LIFE. HI 

and improve your credit. And in 
the hour of misfortune there will 
be comfort in the thought that you 
dwell under your own roof and have 
no rent to pay. 

If you would be a good citizen, 
you must obey the laws of the 
State. If you would enjoy good 
health you must respect the laws of 



112 THREE STEPS 

nature. If you would be a good 
Christian you must observe the laws 
of God. 

The custom of betting on horse 
races, yacht races, prize-fights, base 
ball games, and the result of elec- 
tions, is a reprehensible practice. 
This custom and that of purchasing 
tickets in various games of chance, 



IN LIFE. 113 

such as raffles and lotteries, have a 
tendency to allure young men into 
the habit of gambling, and should 
be avoided. 

Shun every sort of gambling. 
Gambling is an irrational and vicious 
habit. It is the crying evil of the 
day. It is ruining the prospects of 
more bright young men than any 



114 THREE STEPS 

other vice. It is immoral. It is 
unlawful. It is digraceful. If you 
gamble your employer will discharge 
you. If you are engaged in busi- 
ness for yourself it will impair your 
credit. It will debar you from all 
decent society. It will induce men 
of probity to elude you. It pro- 
duces no good. It leads to nearly 



IN LIFE. 115 

everything that is bad. It has 
placed many a promising young man 
behind the bars. It sometimes leads 
to suicide — sometimes to murder. 
And, it is one of the most active 
and efficient causes of dishonesty, in- 
sobriety and distress. It h^s kissed 
the hue of health from the fair 
cheeks of beautiful women, and re- 



116 THREE STEPS 

duced innocent babes and weeping 
mothers to penury and misery. It 
has caused many a pang of sor- 
row — many a flood of tears. It 
has dethroned reason, severed the 
ties of friendship, dissolved love's 
happy dreams, and filled millions of 
hearts with an anguish that is un- 
speakably sad. If young men would 



IN LIFE. 117 

only pause to consider their own 
welfare, and contemplate for a mo- 
ment the dreadful consequences of 
this pernicious habit, common sense 
would force them to abandon the 
nefarious custom at once. Mark 
what I tell you, and bear it well in 
mind, you will never amount to any- 
thing if you gamble. 



118 THREE STEPS 

If young men were more thought- 
ful and studious they would find it 
greatly to their advantage. The 
most profitable way for a young 
man to spend his leisure hours is to 
devote them to reading. A young 
man of ordinary natural ability can 
become a good scholar in ten years 
by reading the right kind of books. 



IN LIFE. 119 

And it will only take him about fif- 
teen years to read the books that 
embody all the greatest ideas and 
grandest thoughts, on almost every 
conceivable subject, that the genius 
of man has ever produced. 

A good moral education is indis- 
pensable to every man. It is essen- 
tial to refined manners and sound 



120 THREE STEPS 

morality. No man can reasonably 
expect to achieve the highest suc- 
cess without it. It is the chief re- 
quisite to a pure life. Besides, moral 
instruction is absolutely necessary to 
a proper understanding of the divine 
laws. And as man is held amenable 
to these laws he should be capable 
of comprehending them. They are 



IN LIFE. 121 

inexorable, and all who transgress 
them must pay the penalty. This is 
as certain as it is that the stars are 
fixed and the ocean's billows roll. 
But where, you will ask, is this 
moral instruction to be obtained? In 
the Christian Church. No other in- 
stitution equals the Church as a 
moral teacher. And every man who 
would reap the benefits to be de- 



122 THREE STEPS 

rived from a good moral education 
should be a member of some church. 

Every man ought to be able to 
distinguish right from wrong, and 
perceiving what is right, he ought 
to have the inclination and strength 
and moral courage to do what is 
right, rather than that which is 
ivrong. 

If you will look around you and 



IN LIFE. 123 

observe what is going on in the 
community where you reside, you 
will discover that the men who live 
respectable, conscientious, industrious 
lives, are the men who are generally 
prosperous. Don't forget this; it is 
quite important. 

The secret of all true happiness is 
contentment. If we would be happy, 
we must be satisfied with our pres- 



124 THREE STEPS 

ent condition. The man who can 
become reconciled to the inevitable, 
and adapt himself to circumstances, 
is the man who will get the most 
enjoyment out of life. 

Love God first, and next to Him, 
love your father and mother. 

If you desire to be happy, do not 
sacrifice all that is good, and noble, 
and beautiful, and enjoyable in this 



IN LIFE. 125 

life, simply for the purpose of making 
money to gratify the detestable vice 
of avarice. Of course, we all have 
to use a certain amount of money 
to live, and as society is now consti- 
tuted, money is not only a very 
desirable, but necessary article. Its 
power in these mercenary days is 
almost infinite. But the mere ac- 



126 THREE STEPS 

cumulation of money alone is no 
criterion to a man's success. A 
man may be very successful in life, 
and yet hoard but very little 
money. The man whose sole aim 
and object in life is to make money, 
is governed and controlled by a 
sordid and despicable ambition. I 
know of nothing that so completely 



IN LIFE, 127 

dwarfs the man, narrows the mind, 
sears the conscience, hardens the 
heart, and shrinks and shrivels 
the soul, as a grasping, avaricious, 
insatiable greed for money. Money 
will neither buy contentment nor 
happiness, nor can we take it with 
us when we die. Besides, "A good 
name is better than riches." And 



128 THREE STEPS 

we must not forget the fact that 
nearly all the men of genius in the 
past — men whose great minds and lu- 
minous souls enabled them to enlighten 
mankind, whose ideas and thoughts 
are today the beacon lights which 
guide and govern the world — were 
poor and humble, and lived in 
obscurity. 



IN LIFE. 129 

In the language of the immortal 
Shakespeare : 

" This above all— to thine own self be true; 
And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man." 




BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



REASON AND INGERSOLLISM. 

By MORGAN E. DOWLING. 



Its thought is warm and clear and decisive. — The Evening News. 

We accord the work a hearty commendation. — The Michigan 
Christian Advocate. 

Mr. Dowling has made a good argument against the irreverent 
Robert.— Chaff. 

It is a book that should have many readers. — Detroit Commercial 
Advertiser. 

It is well written ; its parts are well argued ; and as a whole it 
is a very readable and interesting book.— The Detroit Post and 
Tribune. 

The author's style is almost as terse and dramatic as that of 
Ingersoll's-. — The Troy Daily Telegram. 

Mr. Dowling has produced the raciest piece of American humor 
that has appeared for some time. — Boston Advertiser. 

It puts the case strongly. — New York Independent. 

It demolishes Mr. Ingersoll, root and branch. — Boston Literary 
World. 

We have seen nothing better or more forcibly written merely 
from the standpoint of reason. — The Normal Teacher and Exam- 
iner. 

The argument is absolutely irresistible, and for clear cut logical 
reasoning it excels.— The Ventura Free Press. 

Mr. Dowling makes his points very well indeed. The book is a 
very readable one. — New Orleans Picayune. 

The book is well written, the arguments are strong and cogent 
and many of its points thoroughly and impregnantly intrenched 
in facts indisputable. — ///. Ottawa Republican. 

Mr. Dowling is a brilliant writer ; his style is very pleasing, 
instructive and conclusive. It is a book that should be read by 
all.— The RondEau News. 



PRICE, - - $1.00. 

Mailed to any part of the United States on receipt of price* 



DETROIT NEWS CO. 

DETROIT, MICH. 



